Reviews and Comments

This at times is a hilarious book chock full of one liners that I have since added to my vernacular. The chapters on packing their bags and the anecdote about the relative hanging up a picture frame are full of funny moments throughout. Unfortunately there are also several chapters, inconveniently placed right near the center of the book where I often find myself failing to slog through and finish titles, which are so laden with overly flowery prose and obscure bits of English local history that I nearly fell asleep. The book comes round again to end with some gems like the discussion on fishermen's tales late in the story. Overall I would say this book could be pared down in an abridged version and it would be perfection, but in its current form I found it too dull for my taste on multiple occasions to warrant receiving more than three stars. Still, it is miraculous how so much of the humor holds up and is still so relatable to this day.

Oath and Honor is a captivating retelling of the January 6th, 2021 attack on the United States Capitol by Donald Trump supporters. It contains well documented evidence based research about the events leading up to that fateful day, on the day itself, and in the aftermath and subsequent fallout. Cheney provides compelling evidence in the same vein as that which was relayed during the January 6th Committee to Investigate the Attack on the United States Capitol.

While I disagree wholeheartedly with many of Cheney's political positions, she and the rest of the bipartisan team did an incredible service to our country. Collectively they researched and organized mountains of information, interviewed and obtained testimony from almost exclusively Republican witnesses to avoid any suggestion of partisan lean in their reporting, and delivered concise, but thorough accounts of what actually happened.

No other piece of media I have seen aside from the Committee meetings themselves have better characterized the conspiracy led by Donald Trump, his election campaign members, and many individuals still today serving in the US House of Representatives. This book should be required reading for every American—especially given it is an election year, and an extraordinarily consequential one at that.

I am only giving four out of five stars due to Cheney's continued reliance on touting the virtues of prior Republican icons, namely Ronald Reagan. While I agree that Reagan sought to be a Constitutionalist, it is undeniable that so many of his economic and domestic policy positions have done tremendous harm to the United States. That being said, in spite of this fellation of Conservatism as a political ideology, Cheney does a tremendous job of highlighting how important this effort was to all Americans, regardless of their political alignment.

I think this paragraph sums up the work best: "Because America's democratic system has endured longer than any in history, it can be easy to take its survival for granted. Sometimes people would tell me that January 6 wasn't so bad, because, after all, our institutions had held. I would remind them that our institutions don't defend themselves. The institutions only held because of a handful of Americans who did their duty and refused to yield to Donald Trump's pressure. And because of the men and women in law enforcement who literally defended our democracy when it came under attack."

Thank you to the work Cheney and all other individuals who researched and delivered this information did for the American people.